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A Separate Peace

by John Knowles

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Discussion Topic

Gene and Phineas: Relationship, Traits, and Comparisons in A Separate Peace

Summary:

In A Separate Peace, Gene and Phineas (Finny) share similarities such as being popular, athletic, and coming from wealthy families. Both are dependent on each other's friendship and are competitive. However, they differ significantly: Gene is reserved, scholarly, and insecure, while Finny is outgoing, athletic, and confident. Their relationship is complex, marked by Gene's envy and Finny's innocence, culminating in Gene causing Finny's fall. This event leads to profound changes in both, highlighting themes of friendship, jealousy, and loss of innocence.

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Identify 3 similarities and 3 differences between Gene and Phineas in A Separate Peace.

Differences:  Gene is more scholarly (Gene is near the top of his class, Phineas average in his studies) , Finny is (Phineas) the better athlete, Finny is more self-confident (able to step outside convention and challenge authority)

Similarities:  there are not a great deal of similiarties between the two teenagers.  A similarity lies only in the fact that Gene assumes that his "friend" is as envious of his scholarly abilities as much as he is envious of Finny's athletic prowess.  Of course, they have their ages and school in common, too.  But Gene is severly lacking in self confidence and maturity.  Finny may lack maturity as well, but his is a benevolent immaturity, while Gene's is decidely malevolent. 

"As Ronald Weber writes in an article from Studies in Short Fiction, "It is Phineas's innocence that Gene cannot endure. As long as he can believe Phineas shares his enmity, he can find relief, but with this assurance gone, he stands condemned before himself and must strike out against his tormentor."

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Describe the relationship between Phineas and Gene in A Separate Peace.

Phineas and Gene are roommates and friends at a preparatory school called Devon School in 1942--nothing more, nothing less. The book starts with Gene visiting the school 15 years after graduation during the summer semester before their senior year and he is reflecting on their friendship and life at school while World War II raged on around the world. During high school, Gene admired Finny's athleticism, charisma, and ability to get everyone involved in his games or ideas--but he also felt resentment and jealousy at times. Finny, on the other hand, seems to be a great friend who does not share any of Gene's feelings of competition or resentment. In fact, Finny is open with his feelings about his friendship with Gene on the beach one summer day as shown in the following passage:

"I hope you're having a pretty good time here. I know I kind of dragged you away at the point of a gun, but after all you can't come to the shore with just anybody and you can't come by yourself, and at this teen-age period in life, the proper person is your best pal. . . which is what you are" (48).

Gene is weirded out at the time, but he also feels guilty that he didn't tell Phineas that he considered him his best friend as well. 

Later on, all of the talents and wonderful qualities Phineas has take their toll on Gene and his insecurities get the better of him. Phineas and Gene have an argument where they discuss each other's talents and successes. During the argument, they decide to go to the tree to jump into the river, but because Gene is riled up, he jounces the tree limb that they are on and Phineas falls, breaking his leg.

Gene lives with the guilt for his lapse in self-control for most of their senior year. He went to Finny's home in the fall and confessed his role in the tree that day, but Phineas didn't believe him. Phineas forgives him and shows what a true friend would do. By the end of the year, a bunch of boys hold a mock trial to convict Gene of hurting Phineas, but Finny doesn't want to hear it. When Gene apologizes for breaking his leg again, he says the following:

"I don't know how to show you, how can I show you, Finny? Tell me how to show you. It was just some ignorance inside me, some crazy thing inside me, something blind, that's all it was" (191).

Phineas is now in a position to acknowledge that his best friend actually did hurt him on purpose, but again, he forgives him. Phineas is an example of a true friend and Gene has the privilege to learn such a great lesson at such a young age.

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How do Phineas and Gene develop throughout A Separate Peace?

Gene and Finny are roommates in A Separate Peace, and your question asks how they grow.  Growth implies moving forward, and I'm not so sure either of them makes forward progress in this novel; however, they do each undergo a dramatic change.  Phineas, once an eternal optimist and idealist who saw the war (and, frankly, everything else) as some kind of a cosmic game, is transformed into a bitter realist.  He still claims the war is a giant fabrication created by old men, but he doesn't really believe it anymore.  The change, of course, is precipitated by the reality of Gene's disloyalty and (though he doesn't want to admit it) momentary hatred.

Gene is more of a realist, committed to achieving and producing, though he loves neither.  He is a friend to Finny, though Finny is a better friend than Gene.  Gene gets frustrated at Finny for all the distractions and the dares (jumping from the tree) and the  devilish antics which keep Gene from moving forward on his plan of achievement.  Somehow Gene determines that Finny is deliberately trying to sabotage him for his own gain; it's not true, but in a moment of anger he jounced the limb which ultimately leads to Finny's death.  Nearly the moment that happens, Gene realizes his mistake, but it's too late.  His outward change, then, is from friend to enemy and back to friend, though damaged and broken.  Internally, Gene goes from believer to cynic, back to believer then back to cynic.  There are lots of ways to phrase that journey, but that's essentially it.  Gene is a more complicated character, of course, because we meet him many years after the event, as well.  As an adult, he can be read as having changed and grown from his experiences at Devon; or he can be seen as having undergone no change at all, still cynical and still rather angry. 

If loss of innocence is growth, these two characters grow---a lot.

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